Rich pickings for architecture and engineering mavens. (29 illustrations)
A survey of bridges, dams, and other innovative civil-engineering projects emblematic of mankind’s ongoing compulsion to pit technological ingenuity against the seemingly impossible.
Continuing his long-established preeminence for winnowing astounding facts from both simple and complex scenarios (Small Things Considered, 2003, etc.), Petroski connects seemingly random examples of engineering risk, followed by varying degrees of success or failure, with their common element of hubris. The subtitle is clumsy and misleading: the narrative ranges well back into the 19th century for examples and uses the massive collapse of California’s St. Francis Dam, which killed hundreds in 1928, as the prime illustration of Petroski’s principle that “a great failure is the perfect counterexample to a hubristic hypothesis.” But there are also intriguing analyses of lesser known recent projects, such as Britain’s amazingly innovative Gateshead Drawbridge over the river Tyne, popularly known as the “Eyeblink Bridge,” and a wobbly pedestrian bridge across the Thames that proved to its builders what they should have established in advance: a majority of people forced onto a restricted walkway will inevitably fall into step like an army. Was hubris involved in conceiving and building the World Trade Center structures? The mainstream and subsidiary theories of what really led to the fatal “pancaking” of the upper floors onto lower ones on 9/11, Petroski states, still elude formal proof to this day. And in an illuminating discussion based on a recent visit to China’s ongoing Great Gorges Dam project on the Yangtze, the author gives Chinese engineers and bureaucrats good marks for understanding the formidable problems involved and is cautiously optimistic about its outcome, save for the ultimate environmental impact, which remains beyond realistic projection. “It is human nature to build upon successes with a bravado that can be checked only by tragedy,” Petroski somewhat chillingly asserts.
Rich pickings for architecture and engineering mavens. (29 illustrations)Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2004
ISBN: 1-4000-4051-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2004
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both...
Italian theoretical physicist Rovelli (General Relativity: The Most Beautiful of Theories, 2015, etc.) shares his thoughts on the broader scientific and philosophical implications of the great revolution that has taken place over the past century.
These seven lessons, which first appeared as articles in the Sunday supplement of the Italian newspaper Sole 24 Ore, are addressed to readers with little knowledge of physics. In less than 100 pages, the author, who teaches physics in both France and the United States, cogently covers the great accomplishments of the past and the open questions still baffling physicists today. In the first lesson, he focuses on Einstein's theory of general relativity. He describes Einstein's recognition that gravity "is not diffused through space [but] is that space itself" as "a stroke of pure genius." In the second lesson, Rovelli deals with the puzzling features of quantum physics that challenge our picture of reality. In the remaining sections, the author introduces the constant fluctuations of atoms, the granular nature of space, and more. "It is hardly surprising that there are more things in heaven and earth, dear reader, than have been dreamed of in our philosophy—or in our physics,” he writes. Rovelli also discusses the issues raised in loop quantum gravity, a theory that he co-developed. These issues lead to his extraordinary claim that the passage of time is not fundamental but rather derived from the granular nature of space. The author suggests that there have been two separate pathways throughout human history: mythology and the accumulation of knowledge through observation. He believes that scientists today share the same curiosity about nature exhibited by early man.
An intriguing meditation on the nature of the universe and our attempts to understand it that should appeal to both scientists and general readers.Pub Date: March 1, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-399-18441-3
Page Count: 96
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Dec. 7, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A magnificent account of a central reality of our times, incorporating deep scientific expertise, broad political and social knowledge, and ethical insight, and Idled with beautifully written biographical sketches of the men and women who created nuclear physics. Rhodes describes in detail the great scientific achievements that led up to the invention of the atomic bomb. Everything of importance is examined, from the discovery of the atomic nucleus and of nuclear fission to the emergence of quantum physics, the invention of the mass-spectroscope and of the cyclotron, the creation of such man-made elements as plutonium and tritium, and implementation of the nuclear chain reaction in uranium. Even more important, Rhodes shows how these achievements were thrust into the arms of the state, which culminated in the unfolding of the nuclear arms race. Often brilliantly, he records the rise of fascism and of anti-Semitism, and the intensification of nationalist ambitions. He traces the outbreak of WW II, which provoked a hysterical rivalry among nations to devise the bomb. This book contains a grim description of Japanese resistance, and of the horrible psychological numbing that caused an unparalleled tolerance for human suffering and destruction. Rhodes depicts the Faustian scale of the Manhattan Project. His account of the dropping of the bomb itself, and of the awful firebombing that prepared its way, is unforgettable. Although Rhodes' gallery of names and events is sometimes dizzying, his scientific discussions often daunting, he has written a book of great drama and sweep. A superb accomplishment.
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1986
ISBN: 0684813785
Page Count: 932
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1986
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